Coursework Performance Standards
Other Pages In General Requirements for Graduate Degrees
Students must complete university and departmental requirements in a timely manner to remain in good standing. Only upper-division and graduate courses in which a student earns grades of A, B, C, or S may be applied toward the unit requirements for master's degrees. In courses specifically required for a program—often called core courses—grades higher than a C may be required for the course to count toward degree requirements. Neither lower-division courses numbered 1-99 nor undergraduate independent study courses numbered 198-199 count toward unit requirements for graduate degrees.
Students may be placed on probation if they fail to meet the following standards:
- Establish a GPA by taking courses for letter grades
- Maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 in a given quarter
- Complete course work. The standard will not be met if the student has 12 or more units of unfinished coursework, including Incomplete (I), No Grade (NG), or No Record (NR)
The Graduate Dean provides written notification to the graduate student and department if one of the above performance standards has not been met. The first notification will be considered a warning. Using the Academic Progress Plan – Coursework Performance, the department is expected to deliver clear, written expectations to the student for demonstrating improvement. A copy of this plan will be sent to the Graduate Division.
If the student does not show improvement during the following quarter, the Graduate Dean will ask the department to recommend and justify (a) continued warning status or (b) academic probation.
If unsatisfactory progress continues after the third quarter, the Graduate Dean will, upon consultation with the student's department, (a) notify the student of new or continued academic probation or (b) proceed with academic disqualification.